Three-color photography for printing-surfaces, making transparencies, and the like.



E. H, GAMBLE. THREE-GOLOR. PHOTOGRAPHY FOR PRINTING SURFACES, MAKING TRANSPARBNCIES, AND THE LIKE. APPLIGATION FILED APR.1, 1912.

1,102,902, Patented July 7, 1914,

java/z Z221 W Z wara 15 5917 adv/2553.

and the like, 10 specification.

- canton.

j EDWARD HENRY GAMBLE, or LQNDON, nnernun.

THREE-COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY FOR PRINTING-SURFACES, MAKING TRANSPARENCIES,

AND THE LIKE. I

"Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed April 1; 1912. Serial No. 687,831.

Patented July '2, 14914..

Tollington Park, Londbn', N En land, have Improve invented certain new and usefu ments in Three-Color Photography for Printing-Surfaces, Making Transparencies,

It is well known that in the process of three. color photography as appliedtto the preparation of printin 4 like the following di culty is met with namely: When the red screen or light filter is used the resultantnega'tive gives a relatively" correct effect and the printing surface for use with the blue pigment is ap proximately'correct. Butin the casebf the green light filter'for the red pigment'and of the blue-violet light filter for theyello'w pigment theisame relative correctness of result is not obtained- This incorrectness of result necessitates a certain amount of manual Work by fine etching or other means to approximately rectify the error, and this 7 necessity for manual correction has limited the application and usefulness of the three color process. I

j The object of myinvention is to render this manual work with all its drawbacks, unnecessary, and to accomplish this result I proceed as follows: I first take a negative of the colored picture using an appropriate color screen or light filterand then project li ht onto the picture through this negative o itselfand while the picture is-thus illuminated I take the final negative for use in the production of printing surfaces or for- "10 other purposes. In taking this final negative I use an appropriate color screen or light filter'as well as the-special l'ightin described, and in addition to this special 1 ghting I use other ordinary lighting at the same time or before, or after, and in varying degrees of strength. In th1s way negatives may easily be produced which will give correct color values for each of the three colors,

red, yellow and blue, which are used in producing ordinary three color prints in pigments or dyes or the like on paper or on any other surface. This illuminating of the picture by light projected through the negative of itself has the effect of adding to those 5 parts which Otherwise would appear too of which the following is a surfaces and the oflight through it.

dark in the final result, as much light as may be required to give the correct result. Tins correctness of color values enables the three color rocess to be more successfully applied tot e lithographic,

greater dificulti'es in manual correction than thetypographie method of printing.

I have illustrated the invention in the accompanying' diagram. In this drawing I 5 show the copy board adapted to support the picture at D; The copying camera is indicated at A with a color screen a. The second camera for taking the preliminary negative is shown at 13 having a color screen I),

whileC indicates an arc lamp for projecting the light onto the picture on the board D through the negative.

p In carrying out my invention I proceed as follows: I quired in a copying camera in the ordinary way. I then place another camera beside the copying camera. This second camera is u so arranged that a projecting lantern can be placed behind it., I then focgs the p'icso ture in this second camera, and take in it a negative of thepicture using an appropriate color screen or llght filter. Thus, when I am about to take the negative for use in producing the red printing plate, I take the negative in this second camera through a red screen or light filter. When this negative is developed and finished as usual I put it in the dark slide again and return it to its original position inthe second camera.

ThenI place the'projecting lantern in position behind the camera and project a stream In order to avoid the necessity for a very long exposure a strong source of light-such as an electric arc should be used, ordinary precautions (such as the use of a. glass tank of water) being taken to prevent the heatfrom the lamp cracking the negative. This light illuminates those parts of the picture which in ordinary course would print too dark-in the red printing plate, namely, the blue and green parts, and I regulate the strength of this light and its proportion to the other ordinary illuminat1on so as to give to those parts just as much extralight as may be required to make them photograph with the required density. If the light projected through the negative overcorrects the blues. and greens.

I increase the strength of the ordinary collotype, and p intagllo methods of printing, which present focus'the picture to the size re 75 more than one ne ative in one ro'ectin illumination. On the other hand it may be that the ordinary illumination is too bright and requires to be reduced, and the process thus allows of the most accurate adjustment of the light and consequent correction of the color values. Iprefer to first darken the room and then project the light through the negative. The

greens and blues are thenalmost certain to be overcorrected. The ordinary lighting may then be increased until the right effect is seen on looking at the picture through a green screen or light filter. The negative for use in the second camera should be clear and thin \Vhen- I have adjusted the strength of the two sources of light, I proceed to take a negative of the picture in the copying camera in the ordinary way using a green color filter as is usual in taking the negative for use in producing the red printing plate.

In some cases, such as in copying a dark painting, I use two or more cameras fitted with projecting lanterns, and project light on to the picture through a negative in each,

and for special purposes, when I am using.

two or more such cameras I may use differently colored light filters in eachcamera, or I may use negatives which have been made through difierently colored light filters.- I may also vary the effect produced by using camera.

. In making the final negative in the copying camera when the two sources of light are correctly adjusted, I may use a ruled or grained screen as 18 usual in process engraving.

" I proceed in thesame way in taking the negatives for use lnp'roducingthe yellow and the blue printing plates except that for the yellow plate I use a: green light filter in the second camera when taking the pre liminary negative, and the usual blue-violet li ht filter in the copying camera when taking the final negative, andv for the blue printing plate I use either a green or a blueviolet light filter in the second camera when taking the preliminary negative andthe .usual red light filter in the copying camera when taking, the final negative.

As hereinbefore mentioned the color effect produced in the case of the red filter negative by theordinary method is very nearly correct and therefore only a small proportion of the light should be projected while this negative is being made. It is advisable to placecthe second camera atsuch an angle to the picture that fno reflections are produced in its surface when the light is projected on to it. An angle of about 45 de- 'ture by light projected thereontothrough a negative thereof and photographing said picture while so illuminated.

1 2. The hereinbefore described process which consists in placing a colored picture in position to be photographed, illuminating said picture by light projected thereonto through a negative thereof, illuminating the picture from other sources in the ordinary manner and then photographing the picture while so illuminated. 1

3. The hereinbefore described process consisting in placing a colored picture in pesition to be photographed, illuminating said 1 picture by llght projected thereonto through a negative thereof (the said negative having been taken through a lighting filter of appropriate color), and then photographing said picture through an appropriate colored screen or light filter while so illuminated,

substantially as described.

In testimony whereof, I have aliix ed my signature inpresence of two witnesses.

EDWARD HENRY GAMBLE. lVitnesses: I

J OHN GET'r, HERBERT D. J AMESON. 

